THIS is the first picture of the #80m riverside terminal the Mersey Docks & Harbour Company wants to build at Seaforth.

It will enable the Mersey to accommodate the world's largest container vessels that are currently unable to enter the terminal.

The larger ships already sail into Felixstowe and Southampton on the trans-Atlantic route.

The MDHC is carrying out a feasibility study which should be completed before the end of the year.

If the board give a final go-ahead, as expected, it will be the most expensive project ever to be carried out by MDHC.

A River Revision Order will have to be sought from the Government before work can start.

The depth within the enclosed Seaforth terminal means the MDHC cannot compete with its rivals for a bigger slice of the North American traffic.

The potential problem for the MDHC is that if more of the jumbo-sized container ships are built the port could lose traffic.

The scheme will be one of the biggest ever undertaken on the Mersey since the construction of the Royal Seaforth Terminal. The original terminal cost #50m in the 1960s, with Twelve Quays opened two years ago for #25m.

Seaforth is around 12.8 metres deep, but the larger ships need deeper water. The advantage of building a new terminal is that the river is already a minimum of 15m deep, which would mean ships could berth alongside the river wall to unload.

The project would involve the MDHC creating a large land mass within an area currently an expanse of water at Seaforth.

It would mean the building of a retaining wall into the river, with the site infilled to create a 40-acre site on which loading and unloading equipment would be housed.

At Twelve Quays thousands of tons of silt dredged from Liverpool Bay was pumped into the old Wallasey Dock to create the land mass.

It has not yet been decided whether a similar method will be used at Seaforth.

The Port of Liverpool prepares today to unveil its preliminary statement of results for the past year.

At the time of its interim statement last September, the MDHC board's belief was that the full year outcome would be similar to that of 2002. The results that followed showed the board remaining confident that the projections for 2003 were on target.

At the Port of Liverpool, container volumes are thought to have been well ahead of the figures for 2002, particularly reflecting increased Mediterranean volumes.

The company has already predicted an operating profit from its shipping division, encouraged by an increase in volumes and improved results at BG Freightline and Concorde Container Line.

Chief executive Peter Jones will today be outlining details of the Seaforth project in the MDHC's results, due to be released by the Stock Exchange.

Mr Jones said the MDHC was hoping the project will attract European Objective 1 assistance.